HTML5 ARTICLE

HTML5 Isn't the Solution to Everything Yet

It's not hard to look at HTML5, at least at the wide array of possibilities it represents, and believe that it's a solution so far-reaching that it's going to impact just about everything and change the way we do a whole lot of things for a long time to come. But HTML5 isn't quite ready for prime time just yet, and recent remarks suggest that there are things that need to happen before HTML5 can fully come into its own.

Speaking at the TabletBiz conference and expo, Tristan Louis of Keepskor took the stage to talk HTML5, and what he had to say wasn't exactly complimentary to the concept of HTML5 as panacea. While the idea of HTML5, Louis said, was excellent, its execution still left plenty to be desired. For instance, Louis took issue with the language's ability to access core memory, or to perform caching functions, saying that Keepskor "wasted about a year" of development time as they discovered that this programming language just isn't quite up to snuff.

Keepskor, frankly, would know. Keepskor is set to offer a service--they're still at last report in early alpha mode--that will allow anyone to build their own games, regardless of their ability to program by offering simple tools that allow them to set up their games their way, on something of a limited basis. More specifically, they're able to create games for one of the fastest growing gaming platforms there is, the mobile gaming field.

While even Louis readily admits that there are proposals in the works at the World Wide Web Consortium level to extend HTML5 and fix many of the problems accompanying it, that's still a matter for the future. Right now, native apps have the stability and the overall capability to do the job best. HTML5 is likely to supersede native apps at some point, but not right away.

So yes, for right now, dealing with the Apple (News - Alert) App Store and Google Play is going to be the way to go. It's likely going to be that way for the foreseeable future, and folks like Tristan Louis know that that's absolutely the case. But then, we also all know that that's not likely to be the case forever. Yes, HTML5 has a lot of great potential. Yes, HTML5's potential has not yet been realized sufficiently where it can get fully up and running. We're only just now seeing some of the impact that HTML5 can have, especially as several gaming companies are using some branch of HTML5 to bring their offerings to the fore.

These are still early days for HTML5. It's got a long way to go before it will truly take over for its predecessors. Maybe in a couple years, HTML5 will make the app store obsolete. But for now, it's native apps that are on top, and it's likely to be that way for some time to come.